A critical study reevaluates the lurid portrait given by late ancient biographers of a young emperor of Imperial Rome by testing the trustworthiness of the surviving sources, especially Lampridius and the Scriptores Historiae Augustae. The author separates bias and contradiction, argues that the ruler pursued a deliberate religious program aimed at unifying cults, and questions claims of administrative and military collapse. Attention is given to fiscal and legal measures, and the book closes with three essays analyzing the principal figures who shaped the emperor's psychological and political world.